bluebottle

noun

blue·​bot·​tle ˈblü-ˌbä-tᵊl 

1

: bachelor's button

2

: any of several blowflies (genus Calliphora) that have the abdomen or the whole body iridescent blue in color and that make a loud buzzing noise in flight

Examples of bluebottle in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The team sequenced the genome of each bluebottle, then grouped them together in clusters based on their geographic range in the oceans (Figure 1c). —Grrlscientist, Forbes.com, 23 June 2025

The team sequenced the genome of each bluebottle, then grouped them together in clusters based on their geographic range in the oceans, according to the study. —Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 20 June 2025

So, Cheng and colleagues used high-speed video to capture and analyze more than 20 bluebottle flies (Calliphora vomitoria), known for their exquisite maneuvers, sticking their inverted landings in a flight chamber. —Stephenie Livingston, Science | AAAS, 23 Oct. 2019

Instead there's crumpled napkins, unclaimed pens, forgotten umbrellas, a half-empty Coke bottle and a solitary bluebottle fly out of a Raymond Chandler novel. —Kenneth Turan, latimes.com, 17 May 2018

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for bluebottle

• bottle
• cottle
• glottal
• mottle
• pottle
• scrotal
• throttle
• wattle
• nahuatl

Kids Definition

bluebottle

noun

blue·​bot·​tle -ˌbät-ᵊl 

: any of several blowflies with a shiny blue abdomen or body

Medical Definition

bluebottle

noun

blue·​bot·​tle ˈblü-ˌbät-ᵊl 

: any of several blowflies (genus Calliphora) that have an iridescent blue body or abdomen and make a loud buzzing noise in flight